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Iran further downgrades nuclear commitments in retaliation for US sanctions

The Iranian president had said the new measures would be 'peaceful' and 'reversible' if European powers kept their promises

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (R) on 4 September ordered all limits on nuclear research and development to be lifted, the country's third step in scaling down its commitments to a 2015 deal with world powers (AFP)

Iran announced on Friday that it had lifted all limitations on its nuclear research and development activities in a new step to scale back its commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal with the world’s most powerful countries, Iranian media said.

The new step comes in response to new US sanctions imposed on Iran and the perceived inaction by European powers to save the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"Foreign Minister [Mohammad Javad] Zarif, in a letter to EU (European Union) policy chief [Federica Mogherini] announced that Iran has lifted all limitations on its [nuclear] research and development (R&D) activities," Iran's Students News Agency ISNA quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Moussavi as saying.

The decision violates, among others, the limits imposed on R&D activities on advanced centrifuges, which accelerate the production of fissile material that can be used to make a nuclear bomb.

On Wednesday, Iranian media reported that President Hassan Rouhani had asked the country's Atomic Energy Organisation to resume development of a new generation of centrifuges to speed up uranium enrichment.

On Thursday, the EU urged Tehran to backtrack on the new steps.

"These activities we consider are inconsistent with the JCPOA," said European Commission spokesman Carlos Martin Ruiz de Gordejuela.

"We urge Iran to reverse these steps and refrain from further measures that undermine the nuclear deal."

A timeline of US-Iran tensions

Tensions have skyrocketed between the Washington and Tehran since US President Donald Trump announced last May that he was pulling out of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

Here's a timeline of key events that have led to, and marked, the recent escalation:

8 May 2018: US President Donald Trump announces plans to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Under that agreement, the Iranian government agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions.

Trump also says Washington will reimpose "the highest levels of economic sanctions" on Tehran.

5 November 2018: The US reimposes sanctions on Iran's oil, banking and transport sectors. At the same time, Trump says he wants to gradually impose sanctions on the Iranian oil industry, citing concerns about upsetting energy markets and causing global price spikes.

8 April: The Trump administration blacklists Iran's elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The move marks the first time Washington has formally labelled another country's military a terrorist group.

30 April: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani signs a bill into law that declares all US troops in the Middle East as terrorists, and defines the US as a state-sponsor of terrorism.

2 May: The US stops issuing waivers to countries that import oil from Iran. Those waivers had allowed certain states, including Turkey, China, Japan, India and South Korea, to keep buying Iranian oil, despite American sanctions - and provided a lifeline for Tehran.

6 May: US National Security Adviser John Bolton announces that the Trump administration is deploying an aircraft carrier, as well as ships and bombers, to the Gulf. The move was meant to send a "clear and unmistakable message" to the Iranian government, Bolton said, amid intelligence reports that Tehran was planning attacks against American troops in the region.

7 May: Iran says it plans to withdraw from parts of the 2015 nuclear agreement with major world powers. The move comes one year after US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal.

9 May: As the drums of war began to beat louder in certain circles in Washington, Trump tells reporters that he "would like to see them [Iran] call me" - a sign the US president is perhaps seeking to de-escalate the situation.

12 May: The United Arab Emirates says four oil tankers were damaged in "acts of sabotage" off the coast of Fujairah, just outside the Strait of Hormuz. The UAE did not assign blame for the incident, but said it would launch an investigation into what happened.

13 May: Mike Pompeo makes a surprise visit to Brussels, where he seeks to get European leaders on board with Washington's "maximum pressure" strategy against Tehran. The US secretary of state gets a lukewarm reception, however, with the European Union's foreign policy chief instead urging the US to show "maximum restraint".

14 May: Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei says the country will not go to war with the US. "Neither we nor they - who know war will not be in their interest - are after war," Khamenei says.

15 May: Anwar Gargash, the UAE's minister of state for foreign affairs, says the country is committed to "de-escalation" with Iran, while refusing to assign blame for the 12 May "sabotage" of the oil tankers.

That same day, the US orders non-emergency government employees to leave Iraq, citing fears of an imminent attack by Iranian-backed proxies in that country.

19 May: A Katyusha rocket is fired into Baghdad's Green Zone, an area that houses government offices and foreign diplomatic missions, including the US embassy in Iraq.

21 May: A previously unknown Iraqi group claims responsibility for the rocket fired into the Green Zone. The Operations of Martyr Ali Mansour says the attack is retaliation for Trump's decision to pardon a soldier who killed an Iraqi detainee in 2009.

In Washington that same day, US lawmakers are briefed by members of the Trump administration about its claims that Iran poses a threat to the country. Several members of Congress tell reporters they left the meetings unconvinced.

28 May: US National Security Adviser John Bolton says the attack on four vessels off the Emirati coast was caused by "naval mines almost certainly from Iran".

30 May-1 June: Saudi Arabia hosts a summit in Mecca to discuss recent tensions with Iran. On the eve of the talks, Riyadh blasts what it called Iranian "interference" in the region and demanded "firmness" over attacks in the Gulf.

7 June: The US imposes sanctions on Iran's largest petrochemicals holding group, accusing Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company of providing financial support to an engineering firm with ties to the IRGC.

13 June: Two oil tankers suffer damage after an unspecified attack in the Gulf of Oman. Hours after the incident, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo points the finger at Iran, without providing evidence to back up his claim.

Iran immediately denies it was involved in the attacks, accusing Washington of seeking to derail diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation.

14 June: The head of the United Nations calls for an independent investigation into the incidents in the Gulf of Oman.

Earlier in the day, US Central Command releases a video that it says shows Iranian IRGC members removing an unexploded mine from one of the damaged ships. That comes after Trump himself says the incident has Iran "written all over it".

Meanwhile, the owner of the Japanese vessel says crew members reported seeing objects flying towards them - which would appear to refute the US's version of events. "The crew told us something came flying at the ship and they found a hole," the owner says. "Then some crew witnessed the second shot."

25 June: Trump threatens Iran with "obliteration" if the country were to strike American targets. His comments come after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the White House "mentally retarded" and vowed that Tehran would not back down from US sanctions.

Also on Tuesday, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif tweets an article written by John Bolton in 2017, which outlines how the US should back out of the nuclear deal and detailing why the Iranians would not want to negotiate once the US withdraws.

28 June: The US Senate votes down an amendment that sought to bar Trump from being able to declare war on Iran without authorisation from Congress.

4 July: A supertanker suspected of carrying Iranian crude oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions is detained in Gibraltar. Senior Iranian officials deny claims the tanker was headed to Syria.

21 August: Australia becomes the third country to join Washington's maritime security mission in the Gulf.

27 August: US President Donald Trump and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif both attended the G7 conference but do not meet.

28 August: The US Treasury Department issues sanctions against two networks it says are tied to Iran's missile proliferation programme. Meanwhile, the US's joint maritime security initiative in the Gulf officially launches.

3 September: France says it is prepared to offer Iran $15bn in credit lines to help ease Washington's economic pressure against the country - but the proposal hinders on US approval.

4 September: Iran's President Hassan Rouhani gives European powers another two months to save the 2015 nuclear deal, but warns that Iran is still preparing to breach the pact in ways that would have "extraordinary effects".

6 September: Two sources tell MEE that the Iranian oil tanker that was held by British authorities in Gibraltar for five weeks has delivered its cargo to Syria.

10 September: US President Donald Trump sacks national security adviser John Bolton, seen as the architect of recent US-Iran tensions. Meanwhile, the UK says Iran broke its promise by transferring oil to Syria aboard the Adrian Darya I several weeks after Gibraltar released the supertanker.

Washington has imposed a new set of economic sanctions on a network it said helped Iran skirt restrictions on its ability to export oil, a move that came after weeks of heightened tensions over the movements of Iranian oil tankers in the Gulf.

The US Treasury Department on Wednesday accused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force (IRGC-QF), Iran's elite military unit tasked with missions abroad, of moving hundreds of millions of dollars in oil to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and its ally, Lebanese group Hezbollah.

The IRGC-QF has said the oil originated in Iraq in order to get around restrictions on its sale to Syria, the department said in a statement.

The US State Department also announced that it was seeking information on the IRGC, and the Quds Force, that helps lead to the disruption of the groups' oil sales and financial tools.

The department offered up to $15m for such information through its Rewards for Justice Program.

Washington has undertaken aggressive actions against Iran over the past three weeks, targeting networks tied to Iran's missile programme, oil tankers and a Lebanese bank it accuses of having ties to Tehran.

Relations between Tehran and Washington have soured since the US backed out of the Iran nuclear deal last year and reimposed sanctions on the country.

The nuclear agreement was signed in 2015 by Iran, the US, and five other world powers.

Under the deal, international sanctions against Iran were lifted in exchange for the country curbing its nuclear programme.

The leaders of several European countries remain committed to the deal, but they have struggled to improve relations between Washington and Tehran since the US left the agreement.